


You'll Always Be My Hero

by TheTomorrowKnight



Category: Spider-Man the Animated Series (TV)
Genre: Death, Friendship, Illness, Science Fiction, Spirits, Superheroes, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2018-05-17 22:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5888209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTomorrowKnight/pseuds/TheTomorrowKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place after Farewell Spider-Man episode. Peter runs out of webbing, and falls into a specific place. There he learns a grave truth. Something he never noticed before. This is a one-shot. Please do not read unless you have seen the episode Make A Wish, otherwise this won't make sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Always Be My Hero

The cool evening brought a peaceful silence, which Peter found rather soothing after the rough time he had just experienced. Not only had he learned of the existence of alternate dimensions, but he had visited one, and met the different versions of himself. He had faced millions of different villains and tough situations, but that, had been unbelievable. Truly an amazing experience for a scientist such as him. That one dimension had been weird though. The one where he was nothing but a comic book hero. Just thinking about those comics made the younger comic collector inside him squeal with joy. Maybe one day there really would be comics made after him. But for now, the best thanks he would get would be a good shout from Jolly Jameson.

Yawning, Peter glanced at the bedside clock. It read eight o'clock. Usually he'd be out and about at this time, but he was too tired to do much. He was just about to crawl into bed, when a news report on the radio came on. Jumping out of bed, he ran to the radio and turned up the volume, anxious to know what was going on. He listened intently to a man describing a car chase down by the daily bugle. Groaning, Peter slipped on his costume, before jumping out the bedroom window. Ready for action.

Peter was able to avoid the heavy traffic, as he soared above the city. Web-slinging, as usual. Boy did that save time. He was able to skip past street after street, before coming upon the area around the daily bugle. A few minutes of searching, and Peter easily identified the cop cars chasing a dark van down the streets.

The van drove into a street light, causing it to fall over. A young woman with a little girl was walking by, right in the way of the light. With no time to spare, Peter shot web after web in the direction, stopping the light from falling on the two. The two glanced up, and upon seeing Spider-Man, they gave a little wave. Both were smiling in thanks.

With a quick nod, and one last swing, Peter landed on top of the dark van. The man had run outside of it already, and was on the run with the cash. The cops had gotten out of their vehicles too, and had pointed their guns at the thief. Before the man could get any further, Peter shot webs towards the guy, trapping him in a gooey white mess. Unable to move an inch.

"I'll take that." Peter said, snatching the bag of cash.

The man squirmed, trying to escape. But it was no use. He wasn't nearly as strong as the webs that held him. And the police were on their way to make an arrest.

"Catch!" Peter called, throwing the bag of stolen cash to the cops coming up behind him.

Seeing that there was nothing left for him to do, Peter shot a web at the nearest building, and began to swing away. "Well that was easy." He said to himself, as he soared over New York.

He was just passing over a building when his web-shooters stopped working. "No, no, no! I can't be out of web fluid!" He cried, as he began falling towards the ground. No matter how many times he pulled the trigger, no webs came out of the device. "Crap." He said, just before hitting the pavement. Hard.

He groaned, rubbing his back as he came up to a sitting position. Looking down, he saw that he had ripped a hole in one of his gloves. "Aw man, not the threads."

He slowly stood up, steadying himself, and refilled his web-shooters. He then took a look at where he was. Tombstones surrounded him, so he had to be in the cemetery.

Having no reason to stay, he got ready to leave, when a certain grave caught his eye. His heart broke upon reading the inscription.

In loving memory of Maria Taina Elizando.

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them - George Eliot.

May Taina stay in our hearts forever.

May 4th 1987 - September 2nd 1997

"Oh my god."

He blinked several times, making sure he had read it correctly. To his absolute horror, he had. This was Taina's tombstone. Taina, was dead.

"No, this can't be true."

Peter shot a web at the nearest building, and using what he could remember, tried to locate Taina's building. He had to know if this was her grave.

After a few wrong turns, he finally arrived at Taina's home. He swung up to her window and peaked inside.

There were no curtains or a bedspread. No spider-man posters either. Tears slid down Peter's cheeks in realization. Taina, the world's number one Spider-Man fan, and a great friend of his was gone. Forever.

He took one last look at the room, and noticed something under the bed. He jumped through the open window, and grabbed the object. Horrified, he recognized it as Taina's Spider-Man scrapbook. Flipping through it, he saw articles, and pictures of Spider-Man. Along with some pictures of Peter Parker, which had been added later on. He smiled, remembering the night he had spent with Taina. The night he had revealed who he was under the mask. She was nothing but a memory now.

He turned to leave and swung out the window, landing on the grass below. Staring at the scrapbook he decided to take it to the cemetery. To Taina.

As he was leaving, he approached a sign, which he assumed was for the building. Glancing at the sign, he gasped.

The sign read:

Wish Come True Foundation: For Terminally Ill Children.

"Oh my god." He said, staring at the sign in horror. "She didn't just write that letter to meet her hero. That was her last wish. Taina was dying. Oh my god."

With this knowledge, he knew he had to put this scrapbook by her grave. Obviously it meant something to her. And it meant something to him too.

It was dark by the time he reached her grave again. But he didn't care anymore. He could catch up on sleep the next day. This was far more important.

He slowly approached her tombstone, and placed the scrapbook on the ground in front.

"Taina, oh Taina. I wish I could say I was worried about you. I wish I could say you were always on my mind. But the truth is, I didn't even know about your condition. I thought you were just a huge fan. Now I know how wrong I was." Peter paused. "That night with you was amazing Taina. If it weren't for you, Doc Ock could have been a huge problem. You really saved me then Taina. You really are an amazing girl, who deserved the best. I'll be thinking about you alot Taina, I'll never forget you."

Having nothing else to say, Peter turned, head low and exited the cemetery. Tears trickling down his face, out of control. He had never gotten a chance to say goodbye, and that speech to her, felt like he had.

As Peter left, he never noticed the scrapbook disappear into the mist. A transparent young girl, with a high ponytail smiled. Tears glistening in her eyes. As Spider-Man walked away, she whispered, "You'll always be my hero, Spider-Man."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments/Kudos are always appreciated!


End file.
